“One of the things I’ve always done in my career is I’ve always volunteered for the hardest job.”

Long before there was LinkedIn or Monster.com, when computers still filled up whole rooms and only displayed green text on black screens, Virginia Hamilton led a team that created the first statewide job matching system in the United States.

She hasn’t stopped since, taking on roles in policy, program design, and even starting and running her own non-profit, all with an eye toward changing large-scale systems in new ways.

Today, Virginia works at the US Department of Labor and is a seasoned innovator in government and the workforce development sector. One thing I love is how Virginia didn’t just fall into this role as an innovator. She’s put her hand up over and over again.
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The US Department of Labor has run [HCD] challenge twice for more than 120+ teams across the nation. The lessons these teams have learned have been fundamentally game-changing – teams are re-energized, new insights about what customers need have emerged, and programs have become more successful in reaching the unemployed. Most importantly, this is 600+ people across the nation that now have a new process that they can use over and over again in their day-to-day work.

We’re honored to be a part of the work to help to spread “good process” in service of supporting workforce development across the US, and we’re so glad for individuals like Virginia who are working behind the scenes to improve the lives of millions in the US.

Listen to my full interview with Virginia to learn:
- More about Virginia’s inspiring career in supporting the un(under)-employed find productive jobs
- The three simple lessons she has learned in trying to launch and get buy-in for new initiatives
- The importance of what Virginia calls “good process” and why that trumps “best practice”
- How human-centered design has had an impact on workforce innovation

Our thanks to volunteer sound engineer: Wu Shan

See more about Virginia Hamilton, and her work, visit our blog
http://plusacumen.org/blog/on-leading-change-three-simple-lessons-on-innovation-from-government

You can also hear our previous episode here
https://soundcloud.com/onleadingchange/how-are-you-making-your-customers-feel-beautiful

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